


EclipseStuck

by Bobsled_Hostage



Category: Eclipse Phase, Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Gen, Kidnapping, Mind Control, Non Consensual Forking, Psychosurgery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-10-13 18:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10519464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobsled_Hostage/pseuds/Bobsled_Hostage
Summary: Scattered across the Solar System in the ruins of a disastrous technological singularity, an eclectic group of posthumans, psychics, thinking machines and baseline humans are inexplicably drawn together toward an apocalyptic resolution.





	1. Watch Her Disappear

No, my decision is final.  I can’t do this anymore, Rose - I can’t love you when I have to wonder every second if what I’m thinking is real or just something you’ve edited into my brain.

Noted.  Do you remember what it’s like, out there?  It’s worse than any vision of hell I could possibly conjure up, and you know it.

You know what hell is, Rose?  You know what it really is?  ‘It repeats itself, over and over again, always different and yet always the same.’  It’s living like a ghost or an echo in a warren of your own memories.  It’s _this_ !

Is there nothing I can say to change your mind?

I don’t know, perhaps you could check one of those models you’re always building.  Or did you think I didn’t know about those?  How many ‘simulations’ did you make?  How many forks of me have you dissected?

I-

Stop it!  I can tell when you’re pausing me!  Just erase me if you’re going to treat me like this, like I’m just another one of your projects you can suspend whenever you need a break!

I would never-

Then remove the blocks on the egocasting beam and let me leave!

…

Goodbye, Rose.

Rose watched Kanaya disappear, mind squirted through the hab’s neutrino-caster to somewhere in Saturn orbit.  She didn’t bother to look at the coordinates.  Just sat there, stirring honey into a mug of tea in one of her higher level virtualities.  Waiting just long enough to let it sink in that yes, she was really gone this time.

 

Friglash?

YES, USER: Rose_Lalonde ?

Rose cleared her throat, a vestigial gesture that nonetheless signaled to the software she was about to input a codephrase.

_ Last night, I dreamed that I was dreaming of you - and from a window across the lawn I watched you undress _

WELCOME, ADMINISTRATOR: Rose_Lalonde

Add layer, template: base_reality, environment: waterfall_house07

Rose moved down from the world she currently occupied into the new one.  The blasted kaleidoscope of sun-bleached desert dissolved into the elegant angles of a luxuriantly furnished modern home in the middle of a rainstorm.  She fixed herself a drink at one of the cabinets, sampled it, frowned, and adjusted the composition until it was more to her liking.  That in hand, she took a seat in one of the chairs and sat quietly for a moment, wondering if this was a line she dared cross.

Cue the following commands, execute on mark:

Run C://admin/backups/kanaya/2174_10_18_6_59 as primary instance of user Kanaya_Maryam

Embody user: Kanaya_Maryam, physical template memory

She swallowed the whole thing in one gulp.  Swallowed again to clear her throat.  Gave up on clearing her throat and ran a script to regain her composure.

Mark.

Kanaya sprang into the world, body and soul called up from the server’s repository of ego backups.  She looked around, obviously confused.

Rose- Rose dear, what happened?

Worm in an XP you got off the beam from Phelan’s.  Somehow it got past the scanners and made scrambled eggs of your ego.  Nearly razed the entire server, while it was at it, but we were able to sanitize it.   


When-

All your backups for the last year and change went with it, I’m afraid.

Kanaya looked at the floor, then back at Rose.

...Well, this is certainly embarrassing.

Don’t worry, Rose squeezed her hand.   I’m sure it won’t happen again.


	2. Chapter 2

Still there, Sir.  Definitely not a malfunction.

Karkat swore internally.  Then externally.  His sweaty head of security frowned and bit his lip as he pulled up telemetry on the bogey which had appeared on scanners a few hours ago, rousing the Chief from a rare bout of fitful but still much needed sleep.

What have I told you about calling me sir?

Apologies, Chief Vantas.

Karkat swore again.

Trajectory?

Approaching at a constant deceleration, set to reach us in less than a day if it doesn’t- the sweaty, overly muscled officer ground his teeth,- change trajectory.

Commonwealth?

Hhhhhh, no identification.

Fuck.

The Titanians wouldn’t bat an eye at knocking over a Jovian asteroid mine, making some flimsy excuse about ‘claim jumping’ and hauling whatever crew they managed to take alive back to their slushy fuckball moon.  But the Nords always did it with a smile, proudly broadcasting their affiliation - as long as there wasn’t a JSF presence in the area.  Showing up unannounced suggested pirates, or worse.  Whoever it was, they were practically close enough to bang on the airlock, courtesy of the mining platform’s stone-age computer systems mistaking them for a radar ghost until the obsessive head of security triple checked the logs.

How far out is our cover?

The nearest friendly vessel in the area is the _Fukuyama_ , currently- Equius pulled up the plot-  three and a half days away.

Karkat swore again.  He could feel the anxiety seeping off the big marine in waves, pushing up against his brain and mingling with his own nervous energy.  His little problem had been bothering him more and more lately.  He’d been rationing the last tube of illicit comfurt he picked up off the supply shuttle, hoping it would at least last him until this rotation ended.  He wanted a hit now, more than ever, crammed in with everyone else, thoughts all mixing together in his brain, keeping him up, interrupting his most private moments.  Just a squirt to take the edge off, keep from going space crazy, keep anyone from finding out and-

Equius shifted nervously at the station where he was tethered.  Karkat tried for the thousandth time not to gag on the haze of tiny sweat globes slowly dripping from the man’s face, adding that extra bit of foulness to the recirculated air around them.

Sir- Chief Vantas, we’re being hailed.

 

* * *

 

Sixteen hours later, Karkat pulled himself along the access corridor to the airlock, grumbling and cursing all the way.

-on’t know why they can’t just send a list of demands by radio like normal pirates.  Fucking “face to face” conversation.  My-boot to their-ass if I have a goddamned thing to say about it

Chief Vantas, I really _must_ insist that you allow me to parlay with them in your stead.  It would be totally inappropriate of you to risk yourself, given that as Head of Security, my assigned function-

Your _assigned function_ is to shut the fuck up and make sure your fellow idiots don’t suffocate on an enormous lungful of their own drool in my absence.  Karkat checked the seals on his helmet.  Until I get back, it’s your station.

Equius reflexively saluted.  Karkat rolled his eyes and cycled the airlock.


End file.
